A Day In The Life Of Stephen Harper And Charlie, The First Chinchilla Of Canada

Monday was the first session of Canadian parliament, and Prime Minister Stephen Harper marked the event by live tweeting his work day. He said that he did it to show Canadians “what I do on a daily basis to represent them in Ottawa.”

Harper gave a rare glimpse into the day-to-day life of a world leader.

The pictures also show a personal side, including the Prime Minister’s pets Stanley (a cat) and Charlie (a chinchilla).

8:44 a.m.: Harper has breakfast with his cat Stanley.

9:09 a.m.: Harper leaves his home for his office.

10:24 a.m.: Harper tweets this video of a meeting with his staff.

10:39 a.m. to 10:49 a.m.: Harper makes a call to Kathleen Wynne to congratulate her on becoming the next Premier of Ontario. Then, he calls Member of Parliament Greg Kerr to wish him a speedy recovery.

11:50 a.m.: Right after lunch, Harper has a meeting with his House Leader, Minister Van Loan.

12:17 p.m.: Harper gives a high five.

2:11 p.m.: Harper meets with Marjory LeBreton, Leader of the Government in the Senate.

2:42 p.m.: Harper answers the first question in the first Question Period (QP) in the Canadian House of Commons. This is a chaotic session during which members of the opposition grill the leading party.

2:57 p.m.: Harper is still answering questions during the Question Period.

3:23 p.m.: Harper chats with Minister Peter MacKay, a member of parliament for central Nova and now the cabinet minister of National defence.

3:38 p.m.: Harper and MacKay meet with Devil's Brigade veterans. The Devil's Brigade was a joint U.S.-Canadian World War II commando unit and is considered the antecedent to both U.S. and Canadian special operation forces.

3:53 p.m.: Harper has a meeting with ministers and senior staff.

5:12 p.m.: Harper debriefs with Nigel Wright, his chief of staff.

6:57 p.m.: Harper calls newly elected Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe to congratulate him on his win in the recent election.

7:27 p.m.: Harper snaps a photo at home with his wife Laureen Harper and his chinchilla, Charlie.

A closer look at Charlie, the First Chinchilla of Canada.

7:35 p.m.: Harper does a few minutes of writing before calling it a night.

Here is a video of Charlie having a dust bath, posted by Canadian First Lady Laureen Harper. Twitter loved the animal. Chinchillas are desert animals, and need to take regular (adorable) dust baths to keep clean.